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Comment by Tepix | Hacker News Reader

Spoiler: Did not build from scratch, used keycaps and keyboard switches.

This complaint makes me uncomfortable on behalf of the project creator. He didn't set out to create switches from scratch, he wanted to create a keyboard. You didn't care that he used a prebuilt microcontroller or USB cable.

Switching from keycaps to some substitute wouldn't be technically harder to pull off, it would just reduce usability. Same for switches -- the input/output of these switches is created with keyboards in mind, other switch choices including a homemade version would be possible, but he didn't set out to create 100 switches, he wanted to make a keyboard.

He built a keyboard without the keys or switches. That would be the most useless keyboard ever made until... he obtained pre-made keys and switches from a keyboard vendor. The gripe stands despite this being cool. A more honest description would be he made part of a keyboard or maybe the frame of one.

All the switches do is close a connection between two wires. He could have used bent paperclips and taped cardboard on top of each one for the keys. Would you be happy then?

That would be a fully-custom keyboard. So yes.

The original title was "by hand" which is much better because the main thing that distinguishes this from hundreds of other build logs is that the switch plate was not cut with a laser or waterjet, but with hand tools.

I think everyone knows in order to claim you built anything, you've really got to start with just hydrogen. And even then, you didn't build the protons from scratch...

You're right, I just changed it :)

Don't forget the microcontroller!

Looks like the author had fun, though.

He didn't create the universe first.

It's not mentioned in the article, but I bet he didn't even cast the aluminum or fab the microcontroller either.

This. Is. Bullocks!

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